Why Sales Managers Get No Respect-And Ideas on Getting Them Some
June 1, 2006

I have spoken to a number of companies about their sales performance over the past few years. Often, the key managers/owners I speak with perceive that the root cause of their sales team's mediocre or flat performance is due to the sales manager. Either there is no formal sales manager in place, or the sales manager in place is ineffective.

Like Rodney Dangerfield, "sales managers get no respect."

In fact, a close business friend of mine said recently that he has never seen an effective sales manager in over thirty years of work with private and publicly held businesses. This is quite an indictment!

What does this mean? If companies have been fortunate enough to post good sales and profit results, it is due to the individual abilities of the sales persons, or the ability of owner/managers to leverage business on behalf of the sales team. On the other hand, if sales and profits have not been good, then it must be the fault of the ineffectual and weak sales management, clueless about how to organize, lead and manage their otherwise promising sales organization!

What is your view? Looking at your own company, do you feel your sales management is effective? How do you compare and measure your sales management to those you consider to be "best in class?"

I think that these fundamental questions are not rhetorical. Most companies I have worked with agree that having a sales manager is important. However, they often share two common experiences. First, they usually haven't defined what the job expectations and behaviors need to be for their sales manager, (as well as other members of their sales organization, including inside and outside sales). Second, they often promote or hire someone who has done well in his/her own sales territory; however has limited or no experience in sales management. This means that certain periods or years will be strong, and others will be deficient. Because sales management isn't clearly defined, sales managers often are clueless about why things are going wrong, and for that matter, why things are going or have gone well.

Even if your company has had good results with its sales management, we all know that things change. Top sales managers, like top baseball managers, become goats when sales start falling flat. The symptoms that lead to a loss of respect for the sales management may include:

• A loss of a major customer or customers
• Key supplier dissatisfaction, including addition of competitive distributors
• Sales rep defection (especially the good ones)
• Inability to pass on price increases
• Flat sales rep performance
• Poor company bottom line and profitability
• Unhappy shareholders
• Excess inventory
• Inability to penetrate prioritized customers
• Reduced customer profitability
• Sales reps hanging around the office too much
• Lackluster and ineffective sales meetings
• Etc.

We all know the impact of a poor manager. Poor managers attract mediocre sales people. Poor managers lose strong sales people. Sales people go to competition, taking business and creating customer unease. Hiring and training new people, or dealing with existing people's unhappiness and confusion pulls focus away from gaining and growing profitable customers. List the negatives that have occurred within your own company due to having an ineffective sales manager in place, and I sense you will want to review the processes in place to hire and keep top sales management.

Conversely, list the positives that have occurred due to having good managers. These may include exceeding sales targets and penetrating key customers. This includes attracting and nurturing high performance sales representatives, as well as enabling them to manage key customer activities including meeting margin requirements, positioning and selling key supplier's products and services, selling multiple decision makers, leveraging satisfied customers for referrals, etc. It may include the manager's ability to identify when reps need help, providing them needed guidance and coaching. It also may include the manager's ability to know when to let the poor performer go elsewhere.

What I recommend to provide your sales managers needed respect, (and improve their performance and positive impact on your company's sales and profits):

• Be sure that you are committed to the belief that an effective sales manager can positively impact your sales organization and its associated results
• Have clearly defined job expectations and behaviors for your sales management
• Resist the temptation to assume that promoting a top rep into the role of sales manager is a lay up ( you may end up getting an inadequate sales manager and losing a star rep
• Work with human resources to create personality profiles and associated characteristics that enable you to objectively hire the best sales manager, (even if he/she isn't the best rep)
• Provide the sales manager needed skills and training, on an ongoing basis, to enable him/her to continually build effectiveness
• Resist the temptation to blame the sales manager when the company has a bad month, or bad quarter. If you have a solid manager in place, find ways to support him, not vilify him.
• Seek input from your key suppliers on how they perceive the sales manager
• Ensure that the sales manager is not told what to do after top management has closed door meetings on how to deal with a problem that they may have created
• Include the sales manager on the management team, including purchasing, warehousing and operations, information technology, marketing, etc.
• Consider the balance of time the sales manager spends on his/her own accounts, vs. the time working in the field with the sales team
• Recognize that the sales manager should work with each sales representative, not just the ones "in trouble". (Some say the optimum number of reps that a sales manager can manage is between 8 and 12)
• Help the sales manager build his/her listening skills, and set an example by enabling the sales team to identify and work through problems collaboratively
• Help the sales manager realize that he doesn't earn respect by solving everyone's problems on his own. All he does is burn out

I would be interested in other ideas that YOU have about helping build sales management respect. Add to the list, and forward them to me. I will share ideas and best practices with everyone that may be considered for improving sales management, and sales organization effectiveness.

Email me at: j.grover@grovergroupllc.com